Ones to Watch Germany 2024: Lisa Rieth

Every year, JUVE Patent carries out extensive research in the German patent market, culminating in the publication of the German patent rankings. Our latest research highlighted Lisa Rieth, counsel at Arnold Ruess, as one of six ‘Ones to Watch’ in the German patent market for 2024.

Those who believe in fate might think that Lisa Rieth was destined to pursue a career in patent law. After all, as a beekeeper, she shares a love of bees with a number of patent experts, including renowned British patent judge Colin Birss.

The 33-year-old lawyer from the patent team at Arnold Ruess takes a more mundane view of her career choice. “I was always interested in maths and technology at school,” says the young counsel. She even toyed with the idea of studying mechanical engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for a while. In the end, she decided to study law in Freiburg.

At the same time, she pursued her passion for technology in a part-time job as a student assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, where she wrote reports for research proposals. “It was here that I learnt how to act as a go-between for engineers and non-engineers,” says Rieth. Good training for her job as a patent litigator. This was followed by another part-time job at the University of Freiburg’s Chair of Intellectual Property.

Golden ratio

From there, it was not a great leap to a legal clerkship at an IP boutique specialising in patent law. Rieth chose Düsseldorf-based firm Arnold Ruess, where she also began her career as a lawyer after completing her studies. After several months in the Munich patent team of A&O Shearman (then still Allen & Overy), she returned to Arnold Ruess in 2022, where she was appointed counsel in the summer of this year following a secondment at US litigation firm McKool Smith.

Her career to date has already seen her face numerous high-stakes patent litigation cases. She has been involved in many disputes over pharma patents, including for Ossifimab against Amgen over an antibody for the treatment of osteoporosis. She is especially busy for Zentiva, both against Bayer over Xarelto and against Novartis over fingolimod and in the action for damages against Eli Lilly over pemetrexed. Lisa Rieth has also worked in patent proceedings involving network technology (for Adtran against Orckit) and battery technology (for Varta against Samsung). “Patent litigation offers me the perfect blend of law and technology,” she says. After the excitement of the courtroom, Rieth likes to recover in her garden to the buzzing of the bees.